Interior wall and ceiling surfaces are typically covered with drywall, which can easily be patched and painted to create smooth, flat surfaces. However, design options for drywall surfaces are generally limited to paint selection as drywall cannot be milled to create three-dimensional surfaces or patterns.
Solid surface material, such as Corian LG Hi Mac, Krion, Arishtech Avonite, Meganite, Samsung Staron, Swan Swanstone, or Wilsonart Solid Surface, is generally a non-porous, low-maintenance material often used for countertops. Unlike drywall, solid surface material can be milled to create three-dimensional surfaces and patterns such as grooves or surface contours.
However, existing technology and installation techniques make it difficult, time consuming, and expensive to use solid surface material for anything other than countertops, let alone interior and exterior building surfaces, such as walls, ceilings, floors, and roofs. For example, unlike drywall, the adjoining areas between units of solid surface material cannot easily be patched and painted to create a seamless surface. Rather, these adjoining areas require extensive sanding by expert installers. This laborious installation process can be expensive and time-consuming.
Indeed, even with expensive, expert installation, the seams between adjoining surface material units can be difficult to conceal. This task is made more arduous when the surface material units are etched or contoured to include a three-dimensional design. For example, the grooves or contour patterns on the surface material units can be difficult to align and, even when properly aligned, often act to highlight the seams between units. Existing methods for manufacturing decorative building surfaces have largely been limited to repetitive, three-dimensional tile pieces, which have limited design potential and are time-consuming to install. The present invention addresses these problems involved in the prior art and provides further related advantages.